Cheshire Cat nail art (Alice in Wonderland)

Someone asked for these nails a little while ago and I thought they'd be fun! I watched Alice in Wonderland (the old Disney one) many times as a kid and thought the "cat with the big mouth" was pretty cool. Turns out they've been done on nails many times before, too! I saw Robin Moses had done them at some point, but hadn't done a tutorial for them unfortunately. She inspired me to paint the face on a finger instead of my thumb though, and I'm glad I did!

The girl who asked for these also asked for a tutorial, but I didn't do that, sorry. It's too complicated to show in a picture tutorial and I wasn't sure it would even work, let alone dare film it for a video tutorial! A simple version of this could just be the stripes and maybe two yellow eyes with a black background on one nail.

Best thing about these nails? I did them exactly the same on both hands! I thought I'd probably really screw up the right hand as the cat's face is pretty detailed, but I didn't! Not too bad, anyway. They do both look a bit like the pink panther...

For the second time ever, I used acrylic paint for this. I used some black stuff I got from Uncle Bills, it wasn't very high quality and was quite gunky. Still, it was a positive experience, mostly because it meant that the top coat didn't smear the design! I was worried it would ruin the whole thing, so phew! I cut down some of my brushes for this manicure, too. Some of them were left with only a few hairs but it made the finer details possible.

As I've mentioned a couple of times lately, I'm a bit wary of my current top coat as it tends to change some of the colours. I ended up using my matte top coat for this instead. I still haven't quite figured it out, though! I always end up with streaks in it that show the glossy part :/. Anyone have any tips for applying it? I try to do as fewer stokes as possible, and I have Color Club's matte-ified.

Yesterday was my husband and I's one year wedding anniversary! We had a lovely day together going shopping, out for lunch, dinner and the movies! Normally we wouldn't be able to afford to do all of that, but we just got the bond back from our old house which has been great :).

Hope you like these nails! Also, I made all of the pictures on this post extra large - do you think it looks okay? I normally just have them large, but that's significantly smaller.

Love the Chesire nails! Makes me want to watch the Disney film again. It sounds like your matte top coat is too thick perhaps - polish thinner might correct it? I personally use the Rimmel matte top coat and have no problem with it.

Me too! I love Disney movies. I don't think it's too thick, it's been this way the whole time I've had it - but I'll try adding some thinner just in case. I might have to go buy a Rimmel one, thanks for the tip!

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Nailed It NZ is now an archived collection of thousands of nail art designs, ranging from simple dots to intricate artworks. Started in 2012 and concluded in September 2017, Nailed It NZ designs and tutorials are still available on multiple platforms to inspire and teach.

Nailed It NZ at it's peak reached hundreds of thousands of people per month, with thousands of related products sold - now in busy hands all over the world.

Thank you for allowing me to share my creativity with you for all these years - it's been the adventure of a lifetime.